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Catchers taking crash course in plate-collision rule

Lots more for umpires to look for when runner and ball arrive home

Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila loses his mask after being plowed by the Boston Red Sox' David Ross in Game 5 of the 2013 American League championship. An injured Avila left the game two innings later. MLB officials have put in motion a plan to outlaw home-plate collisions to protect catchers' safety.Photo: The Associated Press

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Major League Baseball’s new rule on plays at home plate will require catchers, baserunners and umpires to change habits they have followed throughout their careers.

The crash course starts immediately, in exhibition games this week, after MLB and the players’ union announced the “experimental” rule Monday. It is designed to protect catchers from serious injury. It is also likely to generate plenty of controversy as players, officials and fans monitor replays, frame by frame, to focus on the slightest movements of catchers and runners.

“The rule isn’t complicated. The rule is simple. How it manifests itself is the question,” said Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, after a meeting with Toronto Blue Jays players.

The rule says a catcher cannot block the plate before he has the ball. He also must give the runner a clear path to the plate. If a catcher violates those edicts, a runner who slides is automatically safe.

If a runner changes his path to the plate to trigger a collision with the catcher, he is automatically out — even if the catcher fails to hold the throw — and subject to ejection.

And the plate umpire, traditionally focused making a correct safe/out call, now has a substantial new responsibility: checking the positions of the catcher and runner to decide whether either player violated the new rule.

In a session with Toronto reporters after the players’ meeting, Clark acknowledged that the rule represents a tall order for umpires.

“An umpire is trying to position himself so he can see the throw and have it all come together, and then whether or not a hand or a foot or something else touches the plate,” Clark said. “Now we’re asking him to take a look at all that, as well as whether or not somebody deviates (from his running lane), or how long (the catcher) was sitting in a certain place, or if indeed a lane was given — so no, it muddies the water quite a bit.”

The umpiring crew chief can call for an instant-replay review at MLB headquarters in New York to determine if the rule was violated. Clark said “clear and convincing” evidence is needed to overturn a call.

“The rule that will be in effect in 2014 does not mandate that the runner always slide or that the catcher can never block the plate,” according to a joint MLB-MLBPA release. “However, runners who slide, and catchers who provide the runner with a lane to reach the plate, will never be found to be in violation of the new rule. Beginning immediately, clubs will be required to train their runners to slide and their catchers to provide the runner with a pathway to reach the plate at all levels in their organizations.”

Explained Clark, “A lot of the clubs are literally going to teach their catchers to set up in front of the plate” to receive the ball before making the tag. And runners will be instructed to slide on every play at the plate.

The rule is expected to undergo refinements after the coming season. Discussions about a new rule emanated from a 2011 play in which star Giants’ catcher Buster Posey suffered serious knee and ankle injuries in a plate collision.